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Servan Independence War
The Servan Independence War also called the War of Servan Independence was a conflict centered around the, eventually successful, attempts of Serva to break away from the Human Domain. Despite being outnumbered, the excellent leadership of Warmaster Hanthorn brought victory through insurgency and clever political maneuvering that drove the Human forces to a decisive, albeit sluggish, defeat. Serva's victory in the war lead to the formation of its Stellar Empire. During the war, many human colonies switched their allegiances, and in doing so found an, arguably, better existence under the rule of the Dual Confederacy. Many such colonies were "liberated" in extensive ground campaigns and insurgencies, and these colonies' deputies threw their lot in with the Servans for a variety of reasons. While many had the best for their people in mind, some deputies simply believed the Servans to have a chance, while being easier to negotiate with than the exploitative mega-corps. Out of all the colonies which joined the war on Serva's side, by the end of the war there was only one which remained under the Domain's control: Cambria. It was the only world on which Servan ground campaigns did not eventually find success. Years after the Independence War victory, the Servans would go to war with the Domain once again, and attempt to liberate this world, during the Cambrian War. Background: Prelude to War There are many nations on Serva, all descended from the little over a million embryos that were dispatched from Earth under the care of Anthrosons just under two centuries ago. These many nations were, for generations, segregated into tiny states, but with the arrival of earthbornes and the mega-corps they brought with them, they were briefly united as one in a resistance against Earthborne invasion. This was the Subjugation Brushfire. The much less-advanced militaries of the combined Servan nations were little more than a speed-bump as two mega-conglomerates invaded the planet: Tritach and Innovaganix. Being part of the Profit Communion Trade Guild, the two worked out an agreement to split the planet in half. The Tritach-controlled half was the Tarbu Confederacy, and the Innovaganix half was the Carthai Confederacy. Each confederation controlled large archipelagos on Serva's surface. Trade between the two was commonplace, but corporate propaganda and maneuvering started to brew a resentment of the other. Given the forceful nature of Serva's subjugation by the corporations, resistance movements started gaining traction in major cities such as Rubiya and Numeran, the respective capitals of the two confederacies. These movements were far from peaceful. They involved not only subterfuge but sabotage of their occupier's assets. Hiding among the people, the corporations found it difficult to commit to any kind of reprisal. That was the case until Maxim Harvey, recently promoted for his... pacification of a non-violent protest on Solovh, stepped into the picture. Unlike his predecessor he had little qualms with mass murder, and he demonstrated this when Tritach Intelligence Services reported that Rubiya was a resistance stronghold, and that an upcoming worker's strike was being planned as a diversion to allow the resistance to traffic weapons and explosives across the city. Maxim allowed the workers to stage their protest, and, as he had done on Solovh, then ordered the crowd to be gunned down with heavy coilguns. This action sent shockwaves of anguish throughout all of Serva. The trafficking operation of the resistance, now exposed, was hunted down by Tritach Enforcers and the members 'brought to justice' - most of them being killed. These events became known as the Rubiya Massacre. Although Tritach hoped this would weaken the resistance in the Tarbu Confederacy significantly, all it did was temporarily break the Rubiya branch of it, and later set off a surge of popular support for it. Now even the most complacent of Servan people had reason to hate Tritach, and many joined the resistance simply out of pure, blind anger. Months later, the Tarbu Confederacy as a whole worked to expel Tritach influence from the planet entirely, in an uprising which took Maxim by surprise, though he was able to escape to space. Similarly, the Carthai Confederacy staged their own rebellion and defeated Innovaganix. Using existing corporate infrastructure, most major cities deployed tachyon fields and prepared to resist a siege from orbit. The siege never came. Rather than bombarding the surface, the corporate warfleets, seeing an opportunity to take the whole of Serva rather than having to split it, started firing on each other. These battles were indecisive and lead to both sides withdrawing to rearm and refuel at corporate regional headquarters. The Servans had survived the first stage of their independence war. But now there were other problems. The nations that made up the corporate-built confederations now sought to split into states once again and resume living as though interstellar contact had never been made. One man, Hanthorn, or Warmaster as he would later be called, stood in the way of these proceedings. Having been in the fight against the corporations since even the time of the Subjugation Brushfire, member of the resistance, and witness to the events Rubiya, his experienced voice commanded great influence among the polities of both confederations. Hanthorn stated simply that the corporations that subjugated them, or possibly others, are likely to return, and that Tritach may even convince an expedition from a Joint Task Force to aid in re-conquering Serva. Now, more than ever, Servans had to be united. Hanthorn not only urged the various nations to stay in their respective confederations, but for the confederations themselves to work as one. This organization became known as the Dual Confederacy - the merging of two parts, themselves not whole, banded together. There was still work to be done: Serva must now mobilize for war. Onset of the War The War for Servan Independence would not be a conventional one. Yes, it had its fair share of grand pitched battles between vast organized armies, but these had a relatively marginal affect on the war's outcome. Indeed, victory was won through diplomacy, attrition, and political maneuver, not superior firepower. The Beginning: Mobilization While not to be considered in the same vein as the later, and more broad, military campaigns, the background of Serva's revolt against Tritach must be duly considered. Immediately following the expulsion of Tritach's regional executive officer, Serva was confronted with the fact that it would have to contend with being a warzone well before it was ready wage war at all. The other nearby mega-conglomerates were seething at the chance to seize so developed a planet for themselves. One-by-one, they would strike, often just barely kept at bay by Serva's dwindling orbital defenses and resources. On more than one occasion, Serva only survived because of another megacorp's intervention, leaving either fleet crippled enough to be warded off by Serva's defensive weapons. Such a situation was not sustainable, especially if the Servans wanted to stand against the might of the United Armada later, and the Warmaster knew this. Serva needed as much time as possible to build up and be ready for war, and the continuous raiding during the first six months had resulted in almost no military-industrial developments or measurable progress. In order to draw attention away from Serva, an effort was made to reach out to the colonies under the local megacorps' sponsorships. With assistance from the Redcoats and expert diplomacy, many colonies were willing to stage their own revolts against their masters. This increased competition among the 'corps, who struggled to consolidate their possessions against one another's expansionism, while attempting to negotiate the internal issues. This plan worked very well, pitting Serva's enemies against each other, and bought precious time to mobilize. Hanthorn predicted that, from the time of the Rubiya Massacre, the Human Domain would take at least two Years before it would catch wind of events in Mett's Folly and deploy a joint task force to respond to it - if it responds at all. It would take that task force two years to arrive, so Serva had 4 years to gear up for war. In the meantime, six months had already passed, six precious months in which no progress towards mobilization had been made. However, the Servan people were enthusiastic. Their leadership, competent and ambitious, coordinated and reinvigorated efforts to field new regiments for the Confederate Army, the best of which would be selected for service abroad as the Redcoats but most stressed was the development and construction of a capable Confederate Warfleet to be capable of challenging the United Armada at its height. To start, Serva's Confederate Army was lackluster and poorly equipped. Though this equipment was homogeneous and domestically produced, culling its dependence on the FFEL, the confederate regulars lacked the organization and training to stand up to the Legion. Furthermore, the confederates were not only qualitatively outmatched, they would likely be outnumbered as well. Serva had bootstrapped its military industry with oversight from confederate officials, but the truth was that no matter how efficient its wartime production power grew, it could not compete with an entire Stellar Empire on its own. Serva's colonial allies, contributing as much as they could, also understood the monumental scale of what was to come. The Confederate Army, while the primary and largest unit of planetary forces in Serva's military, would operate more like an auxilia than a stand-alone army. Although the Army fought the large-scale battles, in many cases with distinction, it would nonetheless be the Redcoats that were the true face of Serva's war effort. Made up of veterans of the resistance and the uprisings, the Redcoats left for distant colonies to train foreign insurgents to fight against corporate rule. Even though this conflict was fought on an interstellar scale, many agree that the Redcoats were more important to Serva's victory than starships. While this may have been the case, the Servans still needed a fleet, and what a fine fleet they built. For the first year, starship production was minimal and relatively few were produced. However, as the infrastructure was finally properly laid down, the Confederate Warfleet grew at a rate of 8 warships per month. The Servans could have feasibly built even more, but it was the highest number sustainable for Serva's specialist manpower to actually crew the starships. Most of the fleet was built during this period. By the time the Joint Task Force arrived in Mett's Folly to enforce Weyland's order, just under 400 warships were ready to meet them. The Year 196 on the Reformed Calendar had begun, and with it came the fires of war in Mett's Folly. Course of the War Mett's Folly Campaign The Region of Mett's Folly was the primary theater of the war, as it was the region that Serva and its allies called home. Warmaster Hanthorn had ambitious plans for his counter-attack against the megacorps and their Domain backup, but first, the Servans, as the most capable of the alliance, had to secure their allies' worlds from megacorp occupation. The allied planets at this time were all Earthborne worlds, the colonies of Solovh, Hymolterra, and Unserwelt. Solovh had been the site of the Solovh Massacre years before the war, and its leaders expressed interest in an alliance with the Servans when word reached them that Tritach and Innovaganix had been expelled. Hymolterra, impoverished and struggling with local problems that saw no support from their sponsors or the Domain, despite their promises, hoped that Serva could be a better option. Unserwelt agreed to join the uprising after secret talks in which Serva pledged total military support. Liberation of these allies was key to Hanthorns' political plans. The Dual Confederacy launched a grand offensive, as early as possible, to secure these planets before the megacorps and Domain could reinforce and fortify them. In addition, in case any one of the attacks stalled and failed, the confederacy opted to attack all three worlds at once, to prevent the enemy from being able to react and fortify the worlds, as might be possible if they were attacked in sequence. To further increase the odds of success, infiltrators gave encrypted communications to insurgencies and rebels in allied worlds, informing them of the plan and the date of attack - 12 Twilight of 199. Despite their best efforts however, megacorp cryptologists were able to intercept and decipher these communications, giving to some advance warning of the attacks. Reinforcements from HQ wouldn't arrive any faster however, so although the Servans had lost the element of surprise, they still held the initiative. Solovh Campaign The largest of the liberation campaigns was the invasion of Solovh with 100,000 Servan troops, joined by 100,000 local Solovhian militias. The megacorp defenders included some 150,000 Tritach soldiers joined by 76,000 FFEL and a division of Venusian mercenaries. The ground, sea, and air campaign focused on the liberation of Solovh's three largest cities: Solovh City, Escalo, and Tiberias. The campaign took a little over a month due to fierce resistance on the part of the defenders in the siege of Tiberias, where there was significant Domain loyalist support among the population. Eventually, despite heavy losses, the Dual Confederacy announced the liberation of Solovh in early Morning Star, 200. It would be the first major victory for the confederacy, exploited by Serva's propaganda machine to boost morale among the increasingly war-weary population. It was during the Solovh Campaign especially that the difference in quality between the fledgling Confederate Army and its adversaries, the FFEL, became apparent. Although Servan troops were arguably more motivated, the relative inexperience of its soldiers and NCOs, as well as somewhat lower quality equipment and unit cohesion, meant that even relatively small and isolated FFEL units could inflict severe damage or at least delay much larger Servan formations. The FFEL troops in Tiberias only surrendered due to lack of ammunition. The Solovh Campaign was a true trial by fire for the Confederate Army, and along with other battles lead to reform of its structure and tactics. Hymolterra Campaign The invasion of Hymolterra was much smaller-scale than the concurrent campaign on Solovh. As the human colony had but one major settlement, and was poor, the megacorps had only established a minor presence by the time the Confederacy struck. 60,000 Confederate soldiers deployed in the outskirts of the city of Hymol at the request of the Ramirez Dynasty, who sought military assistance in dealing with the local Singer threat. With the help of Hymolterran insurgents the Servans won a relatively quick and easy victory against the encircled Innovaganix forces, which numbered just 26,000. Hymolterra remained a warzone during the entire conflict, however, as the Servans struggled to fulfill their promise of destroying the Singer colony. This was a separate war, known as the Hymolterra War. Unserwelt Campaign Battle of Molucca Star Battle of Cygnus Category:Wars